Most Notable Car Deaths: 2.1 Seymour Cray, Supercomputer Architect, 2017
1995 Jeep Cherokee radiator and oil filter, pen from Cray research laboratories, hobbyist/enthusiast rendering of the most renowned supercomputer as motif for pyjama velvet, fabric, glass, wood, paint
Most Notable Car Deaths, The Cray Extensions, 2017
Beckett’s assemblages are based on the death of Seymour Cray, the engineer widely considered the father of supercomputing. Cray died due to injuries sustained in a car accident while driving a Jeep Cherokee in October of 1996. These pieces combine car parts from the same vehicle model, layered with merchandise and artefacts from Cray’s research laboratories. In addition, a hobbyist’s rendering of the most renowned supercomputer becomes motif for a pyjama velvet—material evocative of the domestic environment in which the enthusiast’s version was conceived. The series appear as a random sampling under the odd classification of automotive death, each pursued as a macabre microcosm of modern goings-on.
1995 Jeep Cherokee exhaust pipe and oil filter, pen from Cray research laboratories, hobbyist/enthusiast rendering of the most renowned supercomputer as motif for pyjama velvet, fabric, glass, wood, paint
1995 Jeep Cherokee inner element of radiator, working image from Cray research laboratories printed on pyjama velvet, wood, paint
Model Y-MP button from Cray research laboratories and (book) the computers application at Leibniz-Rechenzentrum München. Hobbyist/enthusiast rendering of the most renowned supercomputer as motif for pyjama velvet, fabric, wood, paint
James Beckett, ‘Most Notable Car Deaths: 2.5 Seymour Cray, Supercomputer Architect’, 2017
1995 Jeep Cherokee radiator switching mechanism, pen and pencil from Cray research laboratories, fabric, wood, paint